Conditional Content Based Upon Configuration - msbuild

I've tried several times to use a similar technique as "conditional references" for conditional content.
Content entries in the Visual Studio Project file such as "web.config" I do not want included when I publish the website.
I've tried a few things like...
<Choose>
<When Condition="$(Configuration) != 'Release'">
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="web.config">
<SubType>Designer</SubType>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
</When>
<Otherwise>
<ItemGroup>
</ItemGroup>
</Otherwise>
</Choose>
But this doesn't work. Any ideas? Or have you encountered this before and solved it?

I believe you can just add the Condition to the ItemGroup... Example:
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' != 'Release'">
<Content Include="web.config">
<SubType>Designer</SubType>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
Note the ticks around '$(Configuration)' in the condition. Those are very necessary.

I would like to extend the answer provided by Nick Nieslanik with some details just so others aren't stumped in the same way I was.
The solution works during build/publish, but Visual Studio 2010's interface may not reflect the changes made. Whether this is a defect or not, I am not sure, but it did confuse me and it may confuse others.

Related

MSBuild well-known item metadata and NuGet pack

I am trying to add custom files to a specific NuGet package (basically I need all output files included in the NuGet package since it serves as a tool for Chocolatey).
After some searching, I found this potential fix:
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);GetToolsPackageFiles</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="GetToolsPackageFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.dll" />
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.exe" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
Unfortunately, this won't work correctly for subdirectories, so I tried this:
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);GetToolsPackageFiles</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="GetToolsPackageFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.dll">
<TargetPath>$([MSBuild]::MakeRelative('$(OutputPath)', %(FullPath)))</TargetPath>
</BuildOutputInPackage>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.exe">
<TargetPath>$([MSBuild]::MakeRelative('$(OutputPath)', %(FullPath)))</TargetPath>
</BuildOutputInPackage>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
According to the docs, I should be able to use %(FullPath), but I am getting this error:
error MSB4184: The expression "[MSBuild]::MakeRelative(C:\Sour
ce\RepositoryCleaner\output\Release\RepositoryCleaner\netcoreapp3.1\, '')" cannot be evaluated. Parameter "path" cannot have zero length.
[C:\Source\RepositoryCleaner\src\RepositoryCleaner\RepositoryCleaner.csproj]
Any idea why the well-known items don't seem to work in this scenario?
Got a fix by specifying the item group outside the target and then using that instead.
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>$(TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput);GetToolsPackageFiles</TargetsForTfmSpecificBuildOutput>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<ToolDllFiles Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.dll" />
<ToolExeFiles Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.exe" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="GetToolsPackageFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="#(ToolDllFiles)">
<TargetPath>$([MSBuild]::MakeRelative('$(OutputPath)', %(ToolDllFiles.FullPath)))</TargetPath>
</BuildOutputInPackage>
<BuildOutputInPackage Include="#(ToolExeFiles)">
<TargetPath>$([MSBuild]::MakeRelative('$(OutputPath)', %(ToolExeFiles.FullPath)))</TargetPath>
</BuildOutputInPackage>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>

StackExchange.Redis.StrongName is refrenced but not included as package

I'm starting a new project using StackExchange.Redis and .Net Core 2.0.
But I get a conflict:
The type 'ConnectionMultiplexer' exists in both 'StackExchange.Redis.StrongName, Version=1.2.4.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=c219ff1ca8c2ce46' and 'StackExchange.Redis, Version=1.2.6.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
Why is this showing even thou I'm not referencing StackExchange.Redis.StrongName and it's not even the same assembly version?
I found my solution here.
By adding this (below) to my csproj:
<Target Name="ChangeAliasesOfStrongNameAssemblies" BeforeTargets="FindReferenceAssembliesForReferences;ResolveReferences">
<ItemGroup>
<ReferencePath Condition="'%(FileName)' == 'StackExchange.Redis.StrongName'">
<Aliases>signed</Aliases>
</ReferencePath>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
It is possible to use Strongname in your entire application, 1.2.6 is newer and will be used. The problem is when you add Redis.Stackexchange you will have the same namespace from two different dll's. .Net compiler doesn't know which one to use. If you need 1.2.6, use the StrongName version throughout your application and no more problems ....
I added a conditional flag to the "StackExchange.Redis" package, that makes it work. I Tried this solution on two new projects on two machines. Don't ask me why it works tho.
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.0</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Folder Include="wwwroot\" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.All" Version="2.0.0" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition=" '$(TargetFramework)' == 'netstandard2.0' ">
<PackageReference Include="StackExchange.Redis" Version="1.2.6" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Redis 2.0 that ships with Asp .Net Core 2.0 internally uses StackExchange.Redis.StrongName, Version=1.2.4.0, that there is for example in C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\NuGetFallbackFolder\stackexchange.redis.strongname\1.2.4\lib\netstandard1.5 folder.
So looks it's causes a conflict between different versions of StackExchange.Redis.

.NET Core 1.1 - getting "Duplicate 'Content' items were included"

I've updated my VS2017 to latest 15.3.0 and installed .NET Core SDK 2.0 (I would like to upgrade an existing .NET 1.1 application to 2.0).
Now when I open my project that was compiling fine (didn't change anything in it yet) and I try to compile I get:
Duplicate 'Content' items were included.
The .NET SDK includes 'Content' items from your project directory by default.
You can either remove these items from your project file, or set the 'EnableDefaultContentItems' property to 'false' if you want to explicitly include them in your project file.
For more information, see https://aka.ms/sdkimplicititems. The duplicate items were: 'wwwroot\index.html'
Under problematic file it's pointing to C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.0.0\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\build\Microsoft.NET.Sdk.DefaultItems.targets
I've read online and I'm able to solve this by adding <EnableDefaultContentItems>false</EnableDefaultContentItems> to my .csproj file. But it wasn't there before and I'm not sure what adding this line means.
Once thing that really bothers me is that the source file it's pointing to is in dotnet\sdk\2.0.0 - and as I mentioned the project is still .NET Core 1.1. All I did so far was to install the update for VS2017 and the 2.0 SDK.
How do I solve this? I would like my original project to compile before I upgrade it to 2.0.
EDIT
My csproj file:
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netcoreapp1.1</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="wwwroot\index.html" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="IdentityServer4" Version="1.5.2" />
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore" Version="2.0.1" />
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore" Version="1.1.2" />
<PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Debug" Version="1.1.2" />
<PackageReference Include="NLog.Web.AspNetCore" Version="4.4.1" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Update="appsettings.json">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
<Content Update="web.config">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<None Update="NLog.config">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</None>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
As mentioned if I add <EnableDefaultContentItems>false</EnableDefaultContentItems> to PropertyGroup it works. But I don't know what is the meaning of this or why it's needed all of a sudden...
Remove the <ItemGroup> element containing
<Content Include="wwwroot\index.html" />
This item is already included by the Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web and is therefore defined twice.
Necromancing.
Alternatively, do the following:
Click 'Show All Files' in Solution Explorer
Right click over 'wwwroot' select 'Exclude From Project'
Right click over 'wwwroot' select 'Include in Project'
The error is now gone.
Much safer than editing by hand.

Using FsLex/Yacc in Vs2013

I'm trying to resurrect an old f# parser project I had working in vs 2008 to work with vs 2013. It uses FsLexYacc.
I got it building ok by using a prebuild step as thus:
fslex --unicode "$(ProjectDir)XpathLexer.fsl"
fsyacc --module XpathParser "$(ProjectDir)XpathParser.fsy"
But this is less than ideal, as it always executes whether or not the inputs have changed.
I then tried just using the old MsBuild actions:
<FsYacc Include="XpathParser.fsy">
<FsLex Include="XpathLexer.fsl">
but these appeared to be completely ignored during the build process. Is that right? Have these build tasks been removed somehow?
I then found some stuff documented under vs C++ that I thought might work:
<CustomBuild Include="XpathParser.fsy">
<Message>Calling FsYacc</Message>
<Command>fsyacc --module XpathParser "$(ProjectDir)XpathParser.fsy"</Command>
<Outputs>$(ProjectDir)XpathParser.fs</Outputs>
</CustomBuild>
and
<PropertyGroup>
<CustomBuildBeforeTargets>CoreCompile</CustomBuildBeforeTargets>
</PropertyGroup>
(I inspected the Microsoft.Fsharp.Targets file to come up with the "CoreCompile" target.)
Alas, still no cigar.
Is anyone able to shine a light on whether it is indeed possible to properly integrate fslex/yacc into a vs 2013 solution, and if so, how?
I don't think the those tools are included by default with the F# compiler that is installed with Visual Studio and so the tasks don't exist. I did the following with a Visual Studio 2012 project, but I expect it would be similar in VS 2013. Here were the steps I had to follow:
Install FSharp.Powerpack from nuget. This has the fslex and fsyacc tools as well as build tasks and targets.
Unload the project and edit the .fsproj file.
Add an import statement for the FSharp.Powerpack.target file. This will add the CallFsLex and CallFsYacc build targets. I added this after the import for Microsoft.FSharp.targets:
<Import Project="$(ProjectDir)\..\packages\FSPowerPack.Community.3.0.0.0\Tools\FSharp.PowerPack.targets" />
Add these three properties to main PropertyGroup at the top of the file:
<FsYaccToolPath>..\packages\FSPowerPack.Community.3.0.0.0\Tools</FsYaccToolPath>
<FsLexToolPath>..\packages\FSPowerPack.Community.3.0.0.0\Tools</FsLexToolPath>
<FsLexUnicode>true</FsLexUnicode> This tells the build tasks where to find the necessary tools and sets the unicode option for fslex.
To use the targets we've imported, you need to define the FsLex and FsYacc item groups with the input files to use. You also need to add Compile items for the output .fs files. You end up with something like this in an ItemGroup section:
<Compile Include="Sql.fs" />
<FsYacc Include="SqlParser.fsp">
<Module>SqlParser</Module>
</FsYacc>
<Compile Include="SqlParser.fsi" />
<Compile Include="SqlParser.fs" />
<FsLex Include="SqlLexer.fsl" />
<Compile Include="SqlLexer.fs" />
You might be able to use the FsLex and FsYacc build tasks directly by referencing the FSharp.Powerpack.Build.Tasks.dll, but for me this was easier to get going.
This is what works for me (Windows 7 x64, Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate RTM):
Get and install "PowerPack for FSharp 3.0 + .NET 4.x + VS2012" from CodePlex (https://fsharppowerpack.codeplex.com/downloads/get/625449)
Create the following Registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders\FSharp.PowerPack-1.9.9.9 (for x64 versions of Windows, omit the Wow6432Node for 32bit versions) and set its (Default) value to the installation directory of the F# PowerPack (e.g. "C:\Program Files (x86)\FSharpPowerPack-4.0.0.0\bin"). [This is related to a long standing/regression bug in src/FSharp.PowerPack/CompilerLocationUtils.fs which basically breaks tool discovery.]
Import the PowerPack targets (AFTER importing the F# targets) in your *.fsproj file: <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\FSharp\1.0\FSharp.PowerPack.targets" />
Update your ItemGroup node to something like this (use FsYacc accordingly):
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="App.config" />
<FsLex Include="Lexer.fsl" />
<Compile Include="Lexer.fs">
<Visible>False</Visible>
</Compile>
<Compile Include="Program.fs" />
</ItemGroup>
Include a reference to FSharp.PowerPack.dll and build.
You should end up with a *.fsproj file similar to this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
<Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
<SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
<ProjectGuid>8c565f99-d6bc-43a9-ace9-eadfe429c0f7</ProjectGuid>
<OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
<RootNamespace>FsYaccTest</RootNamespace>
<AssemblyName>FsYaccTest</AssemblyName>
<TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
<AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>true</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>
<TargetFSharpCoreVersion>4.3.1.0</TargetFSharpCoreVersion>
<Name>FsYaccTest</Name>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
<!-- Snip -->
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Reference Include="FSharp.PowerPack">
<HintPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\FSharpPowerPack-4.0.0.0\bin\FSharp.PowerPack.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
<Reference Include="mscorlib" />
<Reference Include="FSharp.Core, Version=$(TargetFSharpCoreVersion), Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a">
<Private>True</Private>
</Reference>
<Reference Include="System" />
<Reference Include="System.Core" />
<Reference Include="System.Numerics" />
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<MinimumVisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(MinimumVisualStudioVersion)' == ''">11</MinimumVisualStudioVersion>
</PropertyGroup>
<Choose>
<When Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '11.0'">
<PropertyGroup Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets')">
<FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
</When>
<Otherwise>
<PropertyGroup Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets')">
<FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
</Otherwise>
</Choose>
<Import Project="$(FSharpTargetsPath)" />
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\FSharp\1.0\FSharp.PowerPack.targets" />
<PropertyGroup>
<FsLexUnicode>true</FsLexUnicode>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="App.config" />
<FsLex Include="Lexer.fsl" />
<Compile Include="Lexer.fs">
<Visible>False</Visible>
</Compile>
<Compile Include="Program.fs" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
Note: You can probably omit creating the Registry key if you provide a proper FsYaccToolPath as described in mike z's answer.
This looks like it works - at least, in my experience, if you use the separate FsLexYacc nuget package as detailed here, and then put the following in your fsproj file (extracted from the github example):
Next to all the other imports:
<Import Project="..\packages\FsLexYacc.6.0.4\bin\FsLexYacc.targets" />
etc, etc
and then for the source files:
<FsYacc Include="Parser.fsp">
<OtherFlags>--module SqlParser</OtherFlags>
</FsYacc>
<FsLex Include="Lexer.fsl">
<OtherFlags>--unicode</OtherFlags>
</FsLex>
No need to do anything apart from edit the fsproj file, and install the nuget packages.

MSBuild conditionals depending on task parameters

In MSBuild it's straightforward to define, say, a PropertyGroup which depends on the value of a property Foo:
<PropertyGroup Conditional="'$(Foo)'=='Bar'" />
Is it also possible for the conditional to depend on a task parameter?
For example, I'd like to use the value of the Link task's SubSystemparameter roughly like this:
<PropertyGroup Conditional="'$(Link/SubSystem)'=='Console'" />
but don't know if it is possible, and if it is, what the correct syntax is.
I'm pretty new to MSBuild though, so it's perfectly possible that I've missed something.
I don't have the VC SDK on my machine here, so I can't try a Link Task but you could try using the <Output /> of the Task:
...
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(LinkSubSystem)'=='Console'">
<MyDependentProp>Whatever</MyDependentProp>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Linker">
<Link Sources="#(LinkerSources)" SubSystem="Console">
<Output TaskParameter="SubSystem" ItemName="LinkSubSystem" />
</Link>
</Target>
...
A second approach could be to use a property for Link Task SubSystem param itself an just recycle it for your PropertyGroup.
...
<PropertyGroup>
<LinkerSubSystem>Console</LinkerSubSystem>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(LinkerSubSystem)'=='Console'">
<MyDependentProp>Whatever</MyDependentProp>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Linker">
<Link Sources="#(LinkerSources)" SubSystem="$(LinkerSubSystem)" />
</Target>
...